GOLDEN — Bruco Eastwood was found not guilty by reason of insanity on the most serious charges this afternoon in the February, 2010 shooting at Deer Creek Middle School that injured two students before it was stopped by teachers.

The verdict was announced shortly before 2 p.m. He was found guilty of a single count of possessing a weapon on school grounds.

Eastwood never contested that he shot the students on Feb. 23, 2010. But, pointing to a diagnosis of schizophrenia made nearly a decade ago, Eastwood's attorneys argued that he was unable to distinguish right from wrong when he brought a gun to the school he had attended as a child.

"The defense is incredibly happy with this verdict," said Eastwood's attorney, Kate Spengler. "Mr. Eastwood is an extremely ill man. He continues to struggle to understand why he did what he did."

Deborah Weber, mother of one of the injured students, said she was disappointed with the verdict and believed prosecutors had shown Eastwood was sane as he opened fire.

She said she didn't harbor "any bad feelings against Mr. Eastwood" an came to the trial with "an open mind."

But she found fault with colorado's penalties for people found not guilty by reason of insanity.

"Legal insanity should not absolve someone of doing time," Weber said in a brief, emotional statement to reporters after the verdict.

Advertisement

Prosecutors argued that the choice of school, as well as a series of decisions Eastwood made in the hours before the shooting, were indications that he understood what he was doing.

Assistant District Attorney Steve Jensen attributed the jury's finding of guilt on the weapons charge to Eastwood's statement to a forensic psychiatrist that he knew it was wrong to take his dad's rifle.

Jurors were apparently swayed by dozens of journal entries Eastwood had made in which he appeared tormented by imaginary mutant creatures he believed were real.

Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey said Eastwood will now be committed to the state mental hospital in Pueblo for treatment until such time as doctors there believe he can live safely on his own.

Storey, who personally oversaw the case, said he still believes Eastwood knew right from wrong that day, but that he is glad the community, through a jury, got a chance to make the decision.

"The magnitude of going onto school grounds (and opening fire) is so great in my mind that I couldn't have slept at night if I'd rolled over and said 'okay, he's insane,'" Storey said.

Missy Franklin, Jenny Simpson, Adeline Gray and three other Colorado women could be big players at the 2016 Rio OlympicsWhen people ask Missy Franklin for her thoughts about the Summer Olympics that will begin a year from Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro, she hangs a warning label on her answer.